Dravidian languages

The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 26 languages that are mainly spoken in southern India and Sri Lanka, as well as certain areas in Pakistan, Nepal, and eastern and central India. Dravidian languages are spoken by more than 200 million people, and they appear to be unrelated to languages of other known families. A few scholars include the Dravidian languages in a larger Elamo-Dravidian language family, which includes the ancient Elamite language of what is now southwestern Iran; but this is not accepted by most of the Dravidianists.

History

The existence of the Dravidian language family was first suggested in 1816 by Alexander D. Campbell in his Grammar of the Teloogoo Language, in which he and Francis W. Ellis argued that Tamil and Telugu were descended from a common, non-Indo-European ancestor. However, it was not until 1856 that Robert Caldwell published his Comparative grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian family of languages, which considerably expanded the Dravidian umbrella and established it as one of the major language groups of the world. Caldwell coined the term "Dravidian" from the Sanskrit drāvida, meaning "south". The publication of the Dravidian etymological dictionary by T. Burrow and M. B. Emeneau was a landmark event in dravidian linguistics.

List of Dravidian Languages

National languages of India are strongly emphasized:

Southern

• Tamil
• Kannada
• Malayalam
• Tulu
• Toda
• Kota
• Koraga
• Badaga
• Kurumba
• Irula

South Central

• Telugu
• Gondi
• Konda
• Manda
• Pengo
• Kui
• Kuvi

Central

• Kolami
• Naiki
• Parji
• Gadaba

Northern

• Brahui
• Kurukh
• Malto

Phonology

Dravidian languages are noted for the lack of distinction between voiced and unvoiced stops, like Finnish. While Dravidian languages (especially Kannada and Telugu) have large numbers of loan words from Sanskrit and other Indo-European languages which do make distinctions in voice and aspiration, the words are often mispronounced by monolingual Dravidian speakers. In fact, the Tamil alphabet lacks symbols for voiced and aspirated stops. Dravidian languages are also characterized by a three-way distinction between dental, alveolar, and retroflex places of articulation as well as large numbers of liquids.

Reversal property

Words in Dravidian languages have the property where by reversing the consonants and applying a well defined set of transformations of the vowels, another word with a similar meaning is obtained. Over time, one form may represent the general case and the other end up representing a special case.

For example:

• Erasu (gather) and sEru (join)
• kaNu (look) and iNuku (peep)
• atta (attic) reverses to itself.

Palindromes

A substantial number of the reversals result in the same word. In other words, the words are like consonant palindromes.

Eg. amma, appa, aNNa, akka, anna (rice), keNaku (tease, irritate)

Words starting with vowels

A substantial number of words also begin and end with vowels, which helps the languages' agglutinative property.

aLu (cry), elumbu (bone), adu (that), alli (there), idu (this), illai (no, absent)

adu-idil-illai (that-this-in-absent = that is absent in this)

Sanskrit Influence

Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu have been relatively more influenced by Sanskrit and have borrowed the aspirated consonants. Sanskrit words and derivatives are common in Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu. Tamil is the least influenced and retains the closest form of the Proto-Dravidian language.

Theories on the derivation of Dravidian languages

The vast majority of linguists believe that the Dravidian language family is completely unrelated to any other language families. However, there exist several fringe views on the origin of Dravidian languages.

Some people claim a relationship between Dravidian and the Indo-European language family: either that both descended from a common ancestor, or that Dravidian is the common ancestor of Indo-European languages. Proponents of the latter theory often use wordlists showing superficial similarities between the modern representatives of these two families. For instance:

• one'du = one
• kare = vocare (cry out) [Latin]
• ba're = scribere [Latin]
• atta = attic
• hala[di] = yellow

Linguists generally dismiss such analysis as flawed, in that comparisons should be made between the earliest known examples of languages in the groups being compared, and should exhibit regular sound change (see: Comparative method). Applying such reasoning to the above list, for example, shows:

• Applying the principle of regular sound change, the reconstructed proto-Dravidian word for "one" is *oru. English "one" on the other hand can be traced back to Old Germanic *ainaz and Proto-Indo-European *oynos.
• The final -are on vocare and scribere is the Latin infinitive ending, and not a part of the word root proper. "Kare" and "voc" bear significantly less mutual resemblance.
• English "attic" comes from Greek Αττική (Attiki), the name of a region of Greece (see: Attica, Greece). It has changed meaning over the years, and it is thus pure coincidence that its present meaning and pronunciation bears resemblances to the Tamil form.
• Yellow is derived from Old English geolu, which bears little resemblance to Kannada haladi.

The former claim that Dravidian and Indo-European share a common ancestor is generally based on more rigorous methods comparing Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Dravidian, and is generally held in higher regard by the mainstream linguistic community. This is statement is clearly false. I do not know of any mainstream linguist who has supported this. Refer to Bhadriraju Krishnamurti's recent book on Dravidian Languages.

Based on a few typological similarities relationships between the Dravidian languages and the Finno-Ugric languages have also been proposed. But these have not been well received.

References

• The Dravidian Languages / by Bhadriraju Krishnamurti / Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 0 521 77111 0
• A comparative grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian family of languages / by Robert Caldwell. 3rd ed. rev. and edited / by J.L. Wyatt, T. Ramakrishna Pillai. New Delhi : Asian Educational Services, 1998. ISBN 8120601173
• A grammar of the Teloogoo language, commonly termed the Gentoo, peculiar to the Hindoos inhabiting the northeastern provinces of the Indian peninsula / by A.D. Campbell. 3d ed. Madras, Printed at the Hindu Press, 1849fjghfgjkhghsfhdfjhsk

External links

• Dravidian Etymological Dictionary (http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/burrow/index.html). The complete dravidian etymological dictionary in a searchable online form.
• Dravidian languages page in SIL Ethnologue (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?name=Dravidian&subid=1157).
• Dravidian vs. Finnish (http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/4737/dravid1.html) A tract which claims to draw a relation between Dravidian and Finno-Ugric languages.
• Discovery of Dravidian as the source of Indo-European Languages (http://www.datanumeric.com/dravidian/). A paper claiming that Proto-Dravidian is the common ancestor of Indo-European languages.
• Dravidian from Etruscan (http://www.verbix.com/documents/etruscan-dravidian.htm) Paper claiming a relationship between Dravidian and Etruscan.
• Dravidian origin of the Guanches (http://www.atlan.org/articles/dravida/). A paper claiming a Dravidian origin for the language of the Guanches.
• Tamil and Japanese (http://arutkural.tripod.com/tolcampus/jap-tamil.htm)

da:Dravidiske sprog de:Dravidische Sprachen nl:Dravidische talen hu:Dravida nyelvcsalád pl:Języki_drawidyjskie

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